PHILADELPHIA _ Both the Flyers and team captain Claude Giroux are having their most successful runs of the young NHL season.
The events are related.
With Giroux supplying a goal and two assists, the Flyers extended their unbeaten streak to six games after Saturday's 4-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks at the Wells Fargo Center.
The Flyers (9-7-1) are 5-0-1 in their last six games and 2-0 on this current five-game homestand.
During this unbeaten streak, Giroux has four goals and seven assists and is a plus-8. In 17 games overall, he has seven goals and 15 assists.
Sean Couturier scored twice for the Flyers on Saturday, and goalie Brian Elliott earned the shutout with 33 saves.
The Flyers got on the board when Giroux scored with 5 minutes, 4 seconds left in the first period. Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith made an errant pass from behind his goal that Giroux intercepted. Giroux then beat goalie Corey Crawford on a backhand.
The Flyers made Crawford work in the second period. He stopped Wayne Simmons on a rebound and later made saves against Travis Konecny and Scott Laughton on breakaways.
Chicago's Nick Schmaltz hit the left post on the Blackhawks' best chance in the second period.
The Flyers made it 2-0 with 10:48 left in the second period on a great individual effort by Couturier. He took a pass from Giroux near center ice, and Keith, who was down on the ice, unsuccessfully swiped at the puck, allowing Couturier to skate in on goal.
Fending off Chicago's Chris Kunitz, Couturier, from an extreme left angle, shoved the puck inside the right post for his sixth goal.
This was a rough game for Keith, the two-time Norris Trophy winner who played a major role in the Flyers' first two goals.
Couturier made it 3-0 with 15:42 left. Giroux took a pass from rushing defenseman Ivan Provorov and fed Couturier, who skated in on goal. Crawford made a save, but the puck went off the skate of former Flyer Brandon Manning and into the goal.
Nolan Patrick ended the scoring with an empty net goal.
